Courtesy of Kevin Gutzman, a “distinguished research professor” writes on an email list in excitement about Eric Foner’s Pulitzer Prize: “If I may add my two cents — Eric Foner is no ivory tower scholar. His Lincoln, like his other works, reflects his own commitments to the profession and the public mind over a long course of years. As president of the AHA, member of almost innumerable commissions, and as a public intellectual, he has defended
academic freedom, the role of the intellectual in public life, and the highest standards of the teaching profession. Fiery Trials is a magnificent reading of Lincoln’s own growing commitment to a better world, not just a reunited federal union. How fitting that Foner should write it, and that it should garner so many honors.”
Sure, this “unabashed Soviet apologist” (Professor John Diggins’ words) called on Gorbachev to hold the Soviet Union together by force in 1991, but let’s celebrate his accolades! Meanwhile, let’s stand up and cheer when every left-wing thought control website in the world smears and condemns historians who have never called for violence or defended a totalitarian regime, but who merely step outside the Biden/Romney axis. That seems normal!